This is my final mission

Note: If you have yet to complete the full game, please be aware that reading this review may spoil some of the surprises that lie in wait. In particular, the criticism of the game's ending, which begins on the third page, does delve into spoiler territory. Please read with caution. Also, please be wary that the discussion thread may also contain spoilers.

As the prophesied end of a series that's as old as the PlayStation brand itself, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots has to please both fans of the PlayStation 3 hungry for a must-have, blockbuster title and fans of the original series. Either of these would be a challenge by itself, but to do both at once seems an impossibly tall order.

Like Halo 3 before it, Metal Gear Solid 4 is in a sense the end of a generation and the beginning of a new one. The story of Solid Snake concludes with this final installment in the Solid sub-series of the Metal Gear franchise. And though Snake, withered from rapid degeneration because of his clone-borne genes, is at his frailest in this adventure, MGS4 proves to be the most sophisticated and enjoyable entry in the series. Despite these accolades, though, the game stumbles at times like its aging protagonist, showing its years of wear.

In a nutshell, MGS4 is a compelling mix of straight-forward cinematics, shooting, and stealth. Gameplay is broken up into a few distinctly different pieces, the most prominent of which are the typical stealth-action sequences. However, MGS4 does a great job of mixing things up just as you get comfortable. Initially, the game plays like a standard third-person shooter: stealth isn't really a necessity and, quite frankly, it's a lot easier to just run and gun. But that changes drastically as the game plays out. In fact, the best surprises about Metal Gear Solid 4 came not in terms of narrative revelation, but rather in terms of gameplay innovation.

Snake returns for his final mission.

War has changed

Compared to modern shooters, the combat in Metal Gear Solid 4 is not just remarkably competent but actually stands out when compared to many of its peers—something that couldn't necessarily be said of the previous iterations. For a series that started out as a strictly stealth-based endeavor with massive punishment for gunplay and a camera angle that negated the desire to shoot it out with enemies, MGS4 brings the series into the new shooter age admirably. Exemplifying this is the game's opening act, which seems to be ripped right out of the pages of Infinity Ward's Call of Duty playbook.

Significant improvements to the combat system include a brand new shooting engine and related over-the-shoulder camera angle, the introduction of OctoCamo, a marked increase in the number and variety of armaments and items, the Drebin store and weapon collection, the introduction of psyche and stress meters, and a new radar system.

Those who haven't played a Metal Gear game before probably won't appreciate how far the game has come in terms of control. Though the controls still aren't entirely intuitive and will likely present a bit of a learning curve to newcomers and veterans alike (it took me hours to stop trying to shoulder my gun by pressing L2 and shooting with R2) there's just so much to the game that complex controls are an unfortunate necessity. Thankfully, SixAxis controls are used sparingly: you'll only use them a few times during the game for simple things like peeking out of garbage bins.

Unlike previous Metal Gear games, there's now a recoil system and an over-the-shoulder camera akin to Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. You'll be able to swap the camera over each shoulder and take out enemies as you run around. You'll also have full control of the camera when you're not shouldered, making it easier to navigate the more complex environments of the game's early acts. The camera isn't perfect, but it does make the gunplay infinitely more playable than it used to be. As a result of these advancements, Metal Gear Solid 4 promotes combat like never before. It's hard to deny yourself the satisfaction of turning a corner guns ablaze when the game makes it so much easier to shoot it out.

That's not to say that the stealth game has been completely abandoned. Snake has a variety of new moves at his disposal to avoid the enemy, including the ability to hang from ledges, a better cover system, and most importantly the new camouflage system, which has also undergone a massive revamp, making it far more fluid than it was in Metal Gear Solid 3. Players will no longer have to constantly cycle through the menus to change camo. Rather, the new OctoCamo system automatically changes your camo to match your surroundings if you stay still for a few moments. This makes the flow of gameplay much smoother, as you'll spend more time deftly moving about the battlefield than plodding through menus. You can still register specific camo patterns and pick through them if you'd like, but the automatic OctoCamo and the additional costumes that you gather—which let you blend in with certain enemies—are all you'll really need.

But you will still end up in the menu every so often to play with the new gun enhancements. Previous games in the series had a few small upgrades that could be added indiscriminately to specific weapons, but now players can purchase and find a plethora of new add-ons that can be slotted to specific parts on the guns. Dot sights, scopes, laser sights, grenade launchers, shotguns, grips, flashlights, and suppressors can be mounted to many of the game's various weapons at a cost.

The numerous cameos will be very rewarding for veteran players.

And you'll likely be doing this weapon and gear shuffling quite a bit, given the sheer number of weapons in the game. Metal Gear Solid 4 not only has more weapons than its predecessors, it has more weapons than almost any other shooter I've seen. If you're into gun porn, MGS4 will likely be a choice pick for you—an irony given that the series is still so heavily biased towards stealth. Tons of weapons in every category, new grenades and explosives, and various support items like Playboys and sleeping gas come into play.

Collecting weapons on the battlefield also becomes important with the addition of the Drebin Store and the weapon collection system. Weapons scavenged from the battlefield translate into points that can be used to buy or ID-unlock new armaments, ammo, and upgrades from the Drebin store. This can create a bit of pack-rat syndrome, as you scavenge for more guns and let enemies kill each other in order to reap the rewards.

There are also a significant number of new items. In addition to the classic rations, cardboard boxes, and the like, there's a bunch of new items like the barrel, that add new gameplay possibilities, and the iPod, that present fun diversions. The iPod, in particular, is a surprisingly neat addition: during the game you can find and listen to classic Metal Gear Solid tracks or even podcasts recorded specifically for the game. (And that's not all the Mac loving that you'll find, as Otacon wields a MacBook Pro at every turn.)

Some of the items also support the new Psyche and Stress meters, which replace the injury and sustenance systems from past games. As you participate in combat, take blows, and perform poorly, your psyche will decrease and your stress will rise. The less confident you are, and thus the lower your psyche, the more difficult it is to sneak effectively, to aim steadily, and so on. As your stress rises, your health recovery slows and aim decreases wildly. You can combat this by keeping yourself in good mind with items or medical advice via Codec, or by achieving a combat high, which is rewarded after successive kills without sustaining damage. These systems exist transparently for the most part, though at a few key points in the game they'll become a matter of life or death.

And that's why learning to use the new Solid Eye, the game's replacement for the radar system, is so important. Managing the battlefield is still crucial to success. When equipped, the Solid Eye acts as a toned down Soliton Radar system. You'll be able to see vague enemy positions and movement, but your eyes and ears are much more important now. It's a nice change of pace, as enemies become less predictable.

Sadly, the A.I. remains relatively unchanged, which ends up being one of the few negative points to the gameplay engine. Though some of the new enemies move differently than they have in the past—jumping wildly off walls, for example—they're still as predictable as they've ever been. While this A.I. may have been impressive in Metal Gear Solid 2, it feels as though no real advancements have been made.

Overall, though, Metal Gear Solid 4 plays great. It improves on its predecessors by leaps-and-bounds and will likely come to be adored by third-person shooter fans—even those who don't particularly care for the reasons for and ramifications of Snake's escapades. But the first acts are only just a small taste of the overall experience, which changes drastically after the second act.